State v. Fisher
State v. Fisher
Opinion of the Court
¶1
— The primary issue that we decide here is what act or course of conduct the legislature has defined as punishable for identify theft — the “unit of prosecution.”
¶2 Here, the “unit of prosecution” is Fisher’s possession, with the requisite intent, of a means of identification or financial information of each victim. Furthermore, Fisher’s two separate acts of bail jumping, separated by four months, do not constitute the same criminal conduct for purposes of sentencing. Finally, the determination whether Fisher was on community placement at the relevant time must be determined beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury, provided Fisher did not waive that issue below.
f 3 In March 2003, Fisher was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine. Fisher posted bail and was later charged with two additional counts of bail jumping when he failed to appear on two different occasions. A jury convicted Fisher of all three charges.
¶4 In May 2003, Fisher was arrested for driving with a suspended license. A search incident to arrest revealed multiple pieces of identification, checks, and account numbers, belonging to several different people, in his possession. The State charged Fisher with one count of second degree identity theft of Josiah Erickson and one count of second degree identity theft of Ryan Dubois for possession of each victim’s means of identification or financial information.
¶6 The plea agreement reflected the State’s calculation that Fisher’s offender score was seven. At Fisher’s sentencing hearing, he successfully argued that the “unit of prosecution” for identity theft is “use,” not “possession.” The trial court counted the two identity theft convictions as one for purposes of scoring.
f 7 The State appeals the judgment and sentence scoring the two identity thefts as one point and the two bail jumping convictions as one point. Fisher cross-appeals the one point added for community placement.
UNIT OF PROSECUTION — IDENTITY THEFT
f8 The State argues that the “unit of prosecution” for identity theft in this case is Fisher’s possession, with the requisite intent, of a victim’s means of identification or financial information. We agree.
¶9 ‘When a defendant is convicted of multiple violations of the same statute, the double jeopardy analysis focuses on what the legislature intends as the ‘unit of
¶10 Former RCW 9.35.020, the identity theft statute, stated in relevant part:
(1) No person may knowingly obtain, possess, use, or transfer a means of identification or financial information of another person, living or dead, with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any crime.
(2)(a) Violation of this section when the accused or an accomplice uses the victim’s means of identification or financial information and obtains an aggregate total of credit, money, goods, services, or anything else of value in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars in value shall constitute identity theft in the first degree. Identity theft in the first degree is a class B felony.
(b) Violation of this section when the accused or an accomplice uses the victim’s means of identification or financial information and obtains an aggregate total of credit, money, goods, services, or anything else of value that is less than one thousand five hundred dollars in value, or when no credit, money, goods, services, or anything of value is obtained shall
¶11 Subsection (1) of the above statute defines the punishable acts that the legislature has prohibited. The plain words of that subsection include possession of either a means of identification or financial information of another person, with the requisite intent, as one of several punishable acts. The other prohibited acts include obtaining, using, or transferring, with the requisite intent, either a means of identification or financial information of another.
¶12 Subsections (2)(a) and (b) define the degrees of identity theft, respectively, as either in the first or second degree. But neither of these two subsections modifies the plain meaning of subsection (1), which defines the prohibited acts. Thus, under the facts of this case, the “unit of prosecution” is Fisher’s possession, with the requisite intent, of a means of identification or financial information of each victim.
¶13 Fisher argues that under State v. Leyda,
¶14 There, the defendant was charged with and convicted of four counts of second degree identity theft for using the victim’s stolen credit card four times on four different occasions.
*132 [o]ne who possessed a sack of stolen credit cards, intending to use them but never doing so, would commit as many crimes as the sack held cards, while the thief who possessed only one card, but used it over and over, would commit only one crime. The identity thief would thus have a strong incentive to use a stolen card as often and for as much as possible, knowing that he or she could be charged with only one count. We do not believe the legislature intended these results.[15 ]
Nothing in Leyda suggests that “use” is the sole “unit of prosecution” under the identity theft statute. As this court clarified in State v. Berry.
When we held [in Leyda] that the unit of prosecution was the “use” of the means of identification, we were not commenting on the difference between “using” a means of identification and “obtaining” or “possessing” a means of identification. Instead, we were selecting use as the unit of prosecution rather than the number of pieces of identification. The holding in Leyda is not informative to our analysis here.[16 ]
“Use” is one “unit of prosecution” under the identity theft statute. But under the facts of this case, it is clear that “possession” of a means of identification or financial information of another is also a “unit of prosecution.”
¶ 15 Here, the trial court did not have the benefit of Berry and erroneously relied on Leyda to conclude that the only “unit of prosecution” for identity theft is “use,” not “possession.” The plain words of the statute show otherwise. The court’s conclusion resulted in its erroneous scoring of Fisher’s two identity theft convictions as one point rather than two. Proper scoring requires the two convictions to be scored separately at resentencing following remand.
|16 Fisher further asserts that if this court does not agree that “use” is the only “unit of prosecution,” then the rule of lenity applies. We reject this assertion.
¶17 The rule of lenity applies where a statute is ambiguous, and any ambiguity must be resolved in the criminal
SAME CRIMINAL CONDUCT
¶18 The State argues that Fisher’s two bail jumping convictions did not arise out of the same criminal conduct because the crimes occurred at different times. We agree.
¶19 If two current offenses encompass the same criminal conduct, then those current offenses will count as only one point in calculating the offender’s score.
¶20 We need only address the second prong of the test because it is dispositive. The question is whether the two bail jumping crimes occurred at different times.
¶21 It is undisputed that Fisher was out of jail on bond when he failed to appear in June 2003. He also failed to appear in October 2003. A jury convicted him of two counts of bail jumping based on these failures to appear.
¶23 Fisher relies on State v. Porter
¶24 In Porter, the court held that two drug sales that occurred 10 minutes apart satisfied the “same time” element of same criminal conduct.
¶25 The trial court incorrectly ruled that the two bail jumping convictions were the same criminal conduct.
¶26 We reverse the sentence and remand for resentencing.
¶27 The remaining issues of this opinion are not of precedential importance. Accordingly, pursuant to RCW 2.06.040, the remainder of this opinion is unpublished.
Ellington and Appelwick, JJ., concur.
State v. Adel, 136 Wn.2d 629, 634, 965 P.2d 1072 (1998).
State v. Jones, 126 Wn.App. 136, 144, 107 P.3d 755, review granted, 155 Wn.2d 1017, 124 P.3d 659 (2005).
First and second degree identity theft, defined by former RCW 9.35.020 (2002), states in relevant part:
(2)(a) Violation of this section when the accused or an accomplice uses the victim’s means of identification or financial information and obtains an aggregate total of credit, money, goods, services, or anything else of value in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars in value shall constitute identity theft in the first degree. Identity theft in the first degree is a class B felony.
(Emphasis added.)
The trial court reduced Fisher’s offender score from six to five, apparently omitting the additional community placement point. The trial court further reduced Fisher’s offender score from five to four after finding the two bail jumping convictions constituted the same criminal conduct.
State v. Leyda, 122 Wn.App. 633, 636, 94 P.3d 397 (2004), review granted, 153 Wn.2d 1023 (2005).
Adel, 136 Wn.2d at 634.
Ass’n of Wash. Bus. v. Dep’t of Revenue, 155 Wn.2d 430, 441, 120 P.3d 46 (2005).
Id. at 441 n.10.
Adel, 136 Wn.2d at 634-35.
State v. Berry, 129 Wn. App. 59, 69, 117 P.3d 1162 (2005).
Former ROW 9.35.020 (2002) (emphasis added).
See State v. Graham, 153 Wn.2d 400, 406, 103 P.3d 1238 (2005) (When the legislature prohibits conduct against “another person,” a separate offense is committed for each individual person that is placed in danger.).
122 Wn. App. 633, 94 P.3d 397 (2004).
Id. at 635.
Id. at 637-38.
Former RCW 9.35.020(1) (2002).
In re Post Sentencing Review of Charles, 135 Wn.2d 239, 249-50, 955 P.2d 798 (1998).
Berry, 129 Wn. App. at 70.
Former RCW 9.94A.400(l)(a) (2001); State v. Haddock, 141 Wn.2d 103, 108, 3 P.3d 733 (2000).
Haddock, 141 Wn.2d at 109-10.
133 Wn.2d 177, 942 P.2d 974 (1997).
Id. at 183.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.